OKC Police Arrest Suspect In Overnight Fires

Oklahoma City Police arrest a man who may be responsible for setting a number of fires over several days in the Northwest Part of the Oklahoma City.

Officers were called to the scene near Northwest Expressway and Rockwell around 1:30 Wednesday morning after someone called 911 and said someone was setting fires. They arrived to find two big fires right near homes and businesses. One fire was right behind Slick Willies.

4/2/2014 Related Story: Arson Suspect Arrested Following Multiple Fires in NW OKC

"It's bad, got pretty close to us," said Elizabeth Ashcraft who tends bar there.

As firefighters worked to put out the flames, police noticed a suspicious man standing nearby.

"They tried to make contact with him and he took off running," said Sgt. Jennifer Wardlow with the Oklahoma City Police Department.

But police caught and arrested the man, later identified as Robert Henry. Police say when they arrested Henry he had a lighter in his pocket, soot on his hands, and smelled like smoke.

Now investigators are looking if he may also be responsible for a number of other suspicious fires in the area.

"There's been a few fires around here, nobody knows how they started," said Ashcraft.

Police say someone set multiple fires in the exact same area last Wednesday, March 26, morning including at least four grass fires, a trash fire and a dumpster on fire behind the Hobby Lobby.

And the Wednesday before that, March 19, firefighters were called out to nearby Council and Wilshire for several grass fires.